Please read the following quote from Warsaw-based OrthoPediatrics' Nick Deeter in USA Today's recent article about the Medical Reform bill and its impact on the orthopedic industry and Warsaw in particular.
"It's conceivable that (device makers) could move everything eventually," says Nick Deeter, president and CEO of OrthoPediatrics, a Warsaw-based firm that develops orthopedic devices designed for children. He buys components from manufacturers based in the USA and abroad. "Machines do all the work now. Someone starts them and stops them. Even though it's a high-tech product, it doesn't take a skill."
Once again the arrogance of the un-initiated reaches the level of hubris and simply cannot go un-admonished and unchecked. Although the ignorance of the statement speaks completely for itself, this would be typical of someone who is in charge of a small startup company that has yet to learn what the major players have had to discover over decades and decades of making orthopedic components. The level of skill required at every stage of manufacture exceeds well beyond that of standard consumer products. Even as automated as some of the processes have become, it still requires a small army of educated technical people to support these processes.
As Ivy Tech's Workforce and Economic Development Director Melissa Denton points out, the enrollment in college-level classes to teach people these seemingly un-needed skills has exploded. This has allowed Ivy Tech, with the help of donations from the major players, to build a Machine Tool Lab completely filled with brand new CAD/CAM workstations and CNC equipment. Obviously, someone in this community sees the need for highly trained and skilled workers. In my 20 years of experience in the orthopedic industry, I have grown used to hearing statements like this uttered by the usual greenhorns and have dismissed them offhandedly, but to see a statement like this in a well-respected national publication, is nothing short of a slap in the face for every orthopedic employee in Warsaw, or anywhere else for that matter.
OrthoPediatrics reaches out to a very noble niche of the orthopedic market, that in and of itself is commendable, however, the company doesn't actually "make" anything and we can only hope that when the $4.4 million grant and incentive money runs out, they decide to stick around good old Warsaw, Ind. In that time, I suggest Mr. Deeter explore the difference between a screwdriver and an end-mill and learn to choose his words a little more wisely.
